In retail settings, barcode substitution can be a problem. Barcode substitution can occur when a customer replaces a barcode of an item with that of a less expensive item. This can allow the customer to pay a reduced price for the item.
In some situations, a retail employee can visually determine whether a barcode on an item has been substituted. Such a visual determination, however, can be susceptible to human error and/or can increase the time that it takes to process the items of a customer in order to check the customer out. Further, a visual determination may not be effective where self-checkout lanes are used in a store, because an employee who is monitoring the self-checkout lanes may not be in a position to view particular characteristics of items.
In some previous approaches, barcode substitution was detected by measuring a weight of a scanned item and comparing the measured weight with a recorded weight for what the item is expected to weigh. If the measured weight of the item varies from the expected weight, this may indicate that barcode substitution has occurred. However, such previous approaches may not be able to detect barcode substitution when a customer substitutes a barcode from a less expensive item of a similar weight.